55. mischa is TWO

Believe it or not, folks, it's been two whole years since mister Mischa Ryan Kucher Reid decided to make all our lives just a little bit sunnier with his lovely little presence. Here's my version of a quickie quickie retrospective.

TWO YEARS AGO:

(1 day before I went into labor)

(a few hours old)

ONE YEAR AGO:




PRESENT DAY:










HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISCH!!

54. mischloween & fall 09

53. Almost 22 months, ~300 words, several family visits & adventures

Hello friends --
We've been terrible about updating this page, but Mischa has had a fun few months of racing through toddler development. Things have been very busy with several visits to and from family & friends, as well as a short mini-adventure to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend. Meanwhile, 19-21 months consisted mostly of a verbal explosion -- Mischa went from using only a few common simple words (up, cup, mama, thank you), to suddenly learning the words for almost everything around him, at breakneck speed. He's now at the stage that he repeats almost everything he hears (which means we need to be a little more careful - as evidenced by the day he ran around shouting "dammit!" with unbridled glee). Of course only certain words stick -- but he's been absorbing new words so fast that I figured I should take a few minutes to document where he's at right now, since such a feat would soon become impossible. At first I figured that he was probably using close to 200 words at this point. But when I did a quick brainstorm to count them up, he's actually at closer to 300. Neat. And the new development of just the past few weeks is that he's starting to turn these words into actual basic sentences. (first few were things like: "Mama go to the potty," "Dada's at work," "Foggy open(ed) the door," (when the kitten woke him up from his nap) and "Mama, throw the ball!"

His favorite words at the moment: spatula, crocodile (he's really into 3-syllable words right now), music (which he pronounces "numic!"), thank you (an early one but he says it 100 times a day), 'scuse me, pancakes, yogurt, and vacuum.

I've only counted here words that he says on his own, with clear meaning -- I haven't included words that he repeats only when we say them, or that he seems to use randomly. (I may likely be missing a whole set of words that he says at childcare that we don't witness -- we have no idea how many that would be). His pronunciation skills vary, of course. A few of his words need the trained ear of a parent to recognize them, even though he uses that same funny word very consistently. So those where his pronunciation, while consistent, is rather far off of the real word, I've indicated w/ asterisks (examples are "ninnen" for chicken and "lily" for kitty). The others he says basically right. Here's what we could think of so far.

Words Mischa uses as of 9/19/09 (almost 22 months old):

Food & eating: pancakes, waffles, toast, french toast, chicken* (refers to vegetarian chicken), tofu,* rice, butter, peanut butter*, cream cheese*, cheese, bread, milk, water, juice, yogurt, applesauce, oatmeal, cereal, eggs, pizza, cracker, bar, cookie, cake, cupcake, fruit, raisin, potatoes, tomatoes,* apple, banana, burger (boca burger), ketchup, syrup, broccoli (refuses to eat it but loves to say it), avocado (same, sadly), peas, spoon, knife, fork,* spatula, plate, bowl, cup, napkin, bib, bottle, straw, top (e.g. the top to a sippy cup or a pot), yummy, bite, sip, cooking, cut it up, mix it up.*

Locomotion: airplane*, airport, helicopter, car (mama's car, dada's car), beep beep, seat belt, bus, school bus, train, choo choo, truck, motorcycle, boat, go.

Locations: park, lake, up, down, out, upstairs, downstairs, home, house, potty, outside, inside, store, work, grass.

People & Names: mama, mommy (he's been experimenting with this one after hearing his 8-year old cousin say it a lot. but usually he says mamA, accented as if he were a french kid), dada, Nana, Erin, Sage, Jay, Grandma, Grandpa, Max, Liam, Kelly, Michael, Naima, Oscar, Aiden, Kama, baby, Baby Jack, Doug, John, Lola & Foggy (our cats), Spiderman (tries to sing the song when he wears the shirt), Popeye (just learned the beginning to this song), elmo, grover, bowwow (shane's childhood stuffed dog Sherriff Bowwow), Wall-E, EVE*, big bird, spongebob (has never seen the show but has a spongebob cup he is obsessed with), the possessive form of anyone's name (mama's glasses, dada's car, etc).

Animals & their sounds: kitty,* cat, meow meow, doggy, squirrel, tiger, rrawrr, elephant,* bird, giraffe, bear, chicken, peep peep, cow, moo, monkey, ooh ooh ooh (monkey sounds), goose, duck, quack quack, pig, oink, fish, ant, mouse, crocodile,* dinosaur,* bumble bee.

Recreation & toys: book, music,* piano, video, ball, baseball, bat, mitt, color, crayon, pen, camera, computer*, shovel, box, rocks, blocks, farm, swing, slide.

Adjectives: hot, cold*, big, small, empty, messy, dirty, yucky, broken, windy, wet, red, black, blue, grey, yellow.

Activities: eat, chew, walk, run, brush teeth, brush hair, kiss, hug, open, close, jump, dancing, banging (which he learned by hearing us saying numerous times "no banging"), dropped it, touch it, poop, "throw the ball!", "he's crying."

Body Parts: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, head, forehead, hair, chin, cheek, teeth, toes, butt!, pee-pee, belly, belly button, arms, hands, legs, booboo, owie, snip (refers to cutting finger or toenails).

Clothing & Accessories: shoes, socks,* pants, shirt, pajamas, hoodie, coat, hat, glasses,* snap, button, zip, carrier, bag, tattoo.

Around the house: room, bed, pillow, blanket, kitchen, oven, wash dishes, bath, bubbles, soap, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, diaper, cream, wipes, paper (referring to toilet paper or some to draw on), eyedrops, medicine, mirror, towel, window, door, keys, knock knock, "come in!", "coming!", gate, vacuum, high chair, chair, table, blue chair (booster seat), light, fan, suitcase.

Auxiliary & exclamations: the, a, too (as in "too big"), more, again, thank you!, here you go, please, help please, stuck! excuse me!, bless you, shh, "clean up clean up"*, uh-oh, all gone, all done, oops, hi, bye, bye-bye, ok, no, on, off, again, night night.

Other words: rain, sky

Numbers: 1, 2, 3, 8, 9

Letters (actual recognition): B!

Pieces of the alphabet he sings (but without recognition of these letters): "QRS, TUV," and "now i know my..." (he sings it: "qrs, tuv, qrs, tuv, now i know my know i know," [then insert random lyric here]. last time it was "clean up clean up kelly kelly kelly").

Songs he sings (mostly just pieces at a time -- sometimes w/ a decent attempt at the real lyrics, sometimes w/ his own lyrics about ketchup and kitties or pancakes and airplanes): frere jacques, twinkle twinkle/ABCs, row row row your boat, spiderman theme, popeye theme (only because he has shirts w/ both these characters)

And now, for some photos... I'm just going to post a bunch as a mish-mash now so as not to delay this any further... I'll update them with actual context/explanations later.

52. june

51. The Passage of Time

My friend Katharine, who has a cute little boy named alex who's just a month or so older than mischa, posted this on her blog. I couldn't help but repost it.

The Passage of Time
(mischa kucher reid & alex hammer)

June 2008: (about 6 & 7 months old)




October 2008:


And present day: (may 9 2009)

Boys!

50. Sunny May day in Dailey Park

49. Spring update... catching up

OK - quickie mischa update:

• Words he now says all the time: mama, dada, banana, cracker, cheese, yogurt, hi, bye, up, wow, thank you, there you go, all done (accompanied by adorable all-done hand gesture), "where'd daddy go" and "where did it go" (we think he learned these by accident), and Elmo (not our fault - his friend evelyn is in love with elmo).
• Other words he knows how to say but doesnt say that often yet: book, box, bag, cookie, Nemo (this one may be our fault), bottle, water. he also tries really hard to say "peanut butter," and he does have a specific word for it, but it's far off enough that i cant really claim he says it (it sounds something like beebeeeeebuh).
  
• Teeth: he now has 11, including 2 giant molars and a couple more on their way.
• Newest skills: walking up & down stairs like a Big Kid (face forward, standing up holding the handrail rather than crawling on his knees or sliding down his front - he just learned this yesterday; feeding himself with a spoon or fork; running start bear hugs.
• Moment that somewhat freaked me out: seeing mischa walking around the house holding a peanut butter sandwich in one hand, taking big man-bites out of it. like a grown-up.
• Loves: PEANUT BUTTER, being chased, when you pretend like you are looking all over for him, when you pretend to sit on him, climbing up and down stairs or on anything he can find, dogs, cats, his babysitter, popping bubble wrap (even a 1-year-old understands how fun this is), music, playing piano or keyboard, especially the crazy 80s sound effects, wearing funny hats or things resembling hats, picking up very large items like laundry baskets and carrying them around the house, running around outside, american cheese, tidal wave baths (he loves to splash), kitchen implements of every shape and size, and Helping with things (dishes, throwing out trash, putting clothes away & then taking it back out again, feeding me his food, brushing my teeth for me).
• Not so much: diaper changes, new teeth coming in, getting out of the bath, going home from fun places, vegetables that arent disguised by sweeter things.
• Special talent: humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, unsolicited and perfectly in tune. we're working on Row Row Row Your Boat and Beat on the Brat next.
• Some photos from the last 3 months (what you're really here for):

48. Mischa's new favorite game: Running Start Bear Hug

ok, i know i'm terribly, TERRIBLY behind in keeping up this blog, as some of you have kindly noted, so there is a lot of catching up to do. but while i gather together some more recent photos (recognizing that the last ones i posted were from DECEMBER -- so sorry), including some from our lovely recent visit to Aunt Vicki, Uncle Casey, and Cousin Charlie, i thought i'd meanwhile treat you to my new favorite video. this is a new fun game shane & mischa discovered today - the Running Start Bear Hug.

47. holidays with misch, part 2 (sneak peek draftola)

even though this post isnt finished yet, i might as well post these pics while you wait. most are from our holiday trip to new york. many more pictures, and some actual narration/explanations to come...